County Basketball Teams Lit Up Central Florida Classic

Seminole County high school basketball teams more than held their own in the Central Florida Classic at Seminole Community College.

Seminole, Oviedo and Lyman all won three of the four games they played. Lake Brantley and Lake Howell also claimed victories.

The most exciting basketball games of the tournament involved most of these county teams.

Rod Henderson's field goal at the buzzer gave Seminole the third place trophy with a 56-54 victory over Auburndale Monday night.

Henderson, a 6-foot-4 junior and Andre Whitney, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, were honored on the all-tournament team. Whitney led the Seminoles against Auburndale with his 16 points.

Oviedo rallied to overtake Dunedin, 67-57 in overtime of the fifth place game. Randy Ferguson followed a missed shot with a field goal that just beat the buzzer, tying the game at 53-53. In the overtime, junior guard Terry Campbell hit eight consecutive free throws in the final 1:15 to allow the Lions to win big.

''I'd have to say Seminole County teams did very well in the tournament,'' Oviedo Coach Dale Phillips said. ''It was a tough tournament and for three of our teams to win three games each is quite an accomplishment.''

Clearwater Countryside Coach Bob Heintz was quite familiar with Hempstead (N.Y.) High School. Heintz formerly coached in New York and his teams played Hempstead.

Heintz is the cousin of former Lake Brantley Coach Bob Peterson, who has confined his athletic duties to Patriot athletic director.

''They may have looked easy at the end, but all of our games were tough,'' Hempstead Coach Ted Adams said. ''Those teams gave our guys a good battle.''

Adams said he was delighted to have the opportunity to make the trip to Florida for the tournament and would like to return next year to defend the championship his team captured Monday with a 81-58 victory over Clearwater Countryside.

Former Oviedo star Ronnie Murphy was on hand to watch the final night of action in the Central Florida Classic.

Murphy, the junior point guard at Jacksonville University, had to return to school for a Christmas night practice. The Dolphins will be in Oklahoma for a tournament starting this weekend.

Most who came up to Murphy told how they watched him on television against North Carolina.

Murphy said it was a game Jacksonville should have won. ''We had our chances at the end,'' Murphy said. ''We believed from the very start that we could beat them.''

Murphy added that Georgia Tech, which knocked off Jacksonville last week, also ranks as one of the toughest teams he has played against.

It wasn't the kind of game he wanted, but Seminole Coach Charles Steele was happy his girls were able to play a late December game. Seminole easily defeated the Hempstead (N.Y.) girls, 62-28.

''We didn't know what kind of team they would have,'' Steele said. ''We scheduled the game when we heard their boys team was coming down for the Central Florida Classic.''

Steele reports it could be another three weeks before he gets the services of freshman guard Aretha Riggins. Riggins underwent surgery on her right knee two weeks ago.

Former Seminole star Dieidre Hillery is the second leading scorer on the Stetson University women's team.

Hillery, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, is averaging 13.7 points over the first eight games. She is leading the team in rebounding with a 8.1 average and has been the top rebounder in five of the eight games. Her best scoring effort of 20 points came in a 83-72 victory over the University of South Florida while her rebounding high of 15 came in a 76-72 loss to Florida State University.